Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Colorado River flooding controversy

The current issue of EARTH magazine has a cover story by former Prescott College geology instructor Terri Cook title "Releasing a flood of controversy on the Colorado River." She notes that the controlled release of Lake Powell waters from behind Glen Canyon Dam to rebuild sand bars along the Colorado River, also brought unexpected results, including dramatically increasing rainbow trout populations for two years afterwards, that threatened populations of native fish in the river. [Right, sandbar construction by controlled floods. Credit, USGS]